Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft’s new recycle-for-reward initiative doesn’t target one of its own devices — instead, it focuses on another company’s popular gadget: Apple’s iPad. The US trade-in program offers at least $200 in exchange for a “gently used” iPad 2, 3 or 4. You can probably get more than $200 in other places, especially for the newer slates, and you can even get cash instead of the Microsoft Store gift cards Redmond’s giving out. However, outgoing CEO Ballmer and Co. are hoping you’ll find the project helpful if you’ve been wanting to buy their products anyway — particularly the Surface tablets, as evidenced by their prominent placement on the program’s page. Before you surrender old iPads to give Surface a chance, know that the trade-in scheme will run until October 27th, which gives you time to see Microsoft’s next attempt.

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft

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Via: ZDNet

Source: Microsoft

One of the downsides to having glossy displays is that they not only attract a ton of fingerprints and makes them highly visible, but they are also pretty reflective and under direct sunlight it makes it harder to read, although the upside is that color reproduction seems to be better. Of course one could always buy an anti-reflective screen protector for their phone or tablet, but wouldn’t it be better if it were all just built into the device already? Perhaps future iPads could have such a coating, thanks to a patent published today that reveals Apple’s plans for introducing anti-reflective displays for the iPad.

According to the patent filing, it shows how a UV mask that includes an anti-reflection film is applied to the LCD display. The UV mask, according to the patent, could include things like a metal coating or a black mask. The patent was originally filed for back in 2012 so there’s really no telling if and when such technology would be introduced to Apple’s iPad lineup, although with the next-gen tablets pegged for an announcement later this year, will anti-reflection displays be one of its selling points? We guess we will just have to wait and see!

Future iPads Could Come With Anti-Reflection Displays According To Patent original content from Ubergizmo.

There’s no doubt in the fact that Microsoft sees the iPad as a big hurdle in the way of the success of its Surface tablets. The company has made ads that pit its Surface tablets against the iPad, it has gone to lengths to prove that they’re better than Apple’s popular tablets. Microsoft is now offering a new deal which is available in select Microsoft retail stores in the U.S. and Canada. The company will give you a minimum $200 gift card if you trade-in your iPad.

There’s actually no compulsion on customers to put that gift card towards the purchase of a new Surface tablet, though they’re welcome to do so. Gift cards can be used to purchase other products available on Microsoft Store. Tablets that qualify for trade-in are “gently used” iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPad 4 units. This deal actually kicked off on September 5th, it runs until October 27th. The timing is certainly interesting, considering that Microsoft is going to unveil its new Surface tablets on September 23rd. The new tablets are expected to be released in the market soon after the announcement. Does the company think it finally has a tablet that’ll make people turn in their iPads, so its just giving them a nudge in the right direction through this deal?

Microsoft Will Give You Minimum $200 Gift Card For Your iPad original content from Ubergizmo.

It would appear that a reboot of each of the iPod devices graced with color have been given a shade change this week thanks to the iPhone 5s. The iPod touch, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle have been given “Space Gray” to match the iPhone 5s’ newest tone. This suggests that while past years have […]

All right, this might sound a little bit strange to some of you out there, but apparently, leaked documents do point towards the very real possibility of the folks over at the NSA actually owning a replica facility of the Starship Enterprise’s iconic bridge. Yes sir, we are talking about the very same flagship vessel from the sci-fi series, Star Trek. A Foreign Policy investigation concerning NSA director Keith Alexander did shed some light on his former Fort Belvoir facility, where it boasted of a war room that was specially designed to mimic the bridge which many Trekkies are familiar with. I guess this is another example of your tax dollars at work.

In a tour of the facility, it seems that Alexander could not contain his pride and allegedly showed his colleagues the Information Dominance Centre, which has been custom built by a Hollywood set designer in order to make you feel as though you have stepped into the iconic Starship Enterprise bridge itself. I wonder who was Alexander’s “Spock” in real life. Anyways, what you see above is not the real deal, but rather the movie set itself. The report did mention that this custom built area boasted of “chrome panels, computer stations, a huge TV monitor on the forward wall”, not to mention doors that slid open and close with the “whoosh” sound effect.

NSA Director Might Have Starship Enterprise Bridge Replica original content from Ubergizmo.